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Our Patron Saints |
Our Patron SaintsThere is no harm in asking any particular saint to pray for our mission. We even would like to think that any saint would be happy to pray for us - even saints who would not have been quite so supportive while they were still on Earth. However, there are a few saints who's life-stories provide examples that are particularly relevant to our mission and/or situation. Not just our patron saint, but also our namesake saint, Saint Gideon's story is recorded in the Book of Judges, chapters 6 through 8. In his time, it was the Levitical Priests (i.e., those of the House of Aaron) that were supposed to be maintaining the altars and making sacrifices to God. However, as they had slacked and weren't doing their job, Saint Gideon (who wasn't even of the tribe of Levi) was moved to build altars and offered sacrifices to God. Most people, when they think of Saint Gideon, they think of his military achievements. However, the example from his life that causes him to be the namesake saint of the Community of Saint Gideon is in the priestly work he did when the duly-designated priests were failing to do their job. It is in many ways just like the way many of us are called to provide sacramental ministry when those ordained to do through through the pedigree of Apostolic Succession aren't doing their job. As we do not know the actual calendar date of Saint Gideon's death, there is no consensus about what day his feast is. Some have it on August 8. Some have it on September 1. Some have it on September 26. Saint Vincent de Paul established a community of priests specifically devoted to serving people in small towns and villages, a demographic which at the time was neglected - just as the Community of Saint Gideon has the goal of serving the spiritual needs of LGBT people and other similarly-marginalized people in the Bible Belt and similarly difficult-to-reach places. His feast day is September 27. |